Funny or Die is not just the name of the website co-founded by Will Ferrell. It is also the challenge facing Comedy Central, which last week announced its intention to create a British rival to the much-garlanded US website.

The as yet unnamed venture will look to established talent and the rising stars of the UK comedy underground, otherwise known as YouTube, to get the nation's 16 to 34-year-olds chuckling on their smartphones and tablets.

The project is being overseen by Sam Delaney, the former editor of Heat who quit the celebrity magazine to develop a Daily Show-style pilot on Comedy Central. While his immediate programme ambition did not come off, it fed into something bigger, a UK-based comedy hub that will feature videos, lists, quizzes and clips from some of the Viacom (75%) and Sky (25%) owned channel's biggest shows. If the UK project comes off, then it will roll out the idea worldwide (it already has a big online presence in the US).

"Our remit is to push things further and be a bit edgier, but be true to the principles of Comedy Central which is about being fun, open and bright," says Delaney, newly appointed editor in chief – digital for Comedy Central UK.

"There's nothing wrong with cynical, clever Stewart Lee-type comedy but it's not the sort of thing that young people are sharing in their millions online."

It will be no easy task, even with a heap of funny cat videos. "We won't be averse to that," says Delaney, adding "on top of some fantastic innovative scripted comedy."

It followed the closure of another UK site, Comedy Box, backed by QI creator and former Spitting Image and Not The Nine O'Clock News producer, John Lloyd.

"The idea was that it was somewhere you can get a great laugh at any time of day or night," remembers Lloyd. "You have got to provide a ton of content and that is going to take money. It's very difficult doing it online because you don't know whether it's funny or not, you can't hear the audience laughing. I wish them luck."

Closer to home (and a more realistic comparison, perhaps) is satirical website The Poke, which memorably remixed Nick Clegg's tuition fees apology. The UK's biggest comedy website, it has 3 million monthly unique users and just under 26,000 subscribers on YouTube.

James Herring, entertainment PR and co-founder of The Poke, which launched four years ago, says: "It takes a very long time to build a comedy brand online. It requires a seriously long-term view. Good luck to them for trying to innovate and do something different, but if they are going to be successful they need a three-year plan."

The Comedy Central site will feature clips from some of its US series not available in the UK such as sketch show Key and Peele and Inside Amy Schumer, featuring the American stand-up who Delaney says "makes Tina Fey look like Miranda [Hart] by comparison".

The launch, likely to be after the football World Cup this summer, is part of a drive by Comedy Central to create more original content outside of the US.

Jill Offman, managing director of Comedy Central UK and senior vice president, comedy, for Viacom International Media Networks, says comedy is the most sought-after genre on the internet after porn ("most popular acceptable genre", she prefers).

Offman says the UK channel's ratings have doubled, but compared to the mainstream networks they remain small. Last week's first run outing for US sitcom The Middle had 156,000 viewers on Tuesday night.

"We have to be in the digital space," she points out, "we have no choice, we have to make it work." But Offman sounds a note of caution when it comes to budgets. "I don't think anyone sane is going into the digital world burning cash," she says.

"It's trial and error. We might get it wrong a bit in the beginning and that's why I say trial and error. In linear television you have to wait 18-month lead times. In digital if it's not working in the morning you can change it by the afternoon."

It is no surprise that the network is looking to local YouTube talent who will bring their thousands of social media followers with them.

Steve Ackerman, managing director of Somethin' Else which represents YouTube sensations Dan and Phil, who landed their own show on Radio 1, says: "They have very loyal audiences. When Dan and Phil first did their Radio 1 show it did more social media in one show than the breakfast show has across a whole week."

But if up and coming talent can make a decent living on YouTube, why climb into bed with a behemoth like Viacom? "We offer a marrage between digital and linear, local and international, global exposure," says Offman. "We have a lot to offer. We are paid to make people laugh."